By Michael Zezas, Head of U.S. Public Policy Research at Morgan Stanley
Thematic work has long been a focus of Morgan Stanley Research. We launched Blue Papers and Insights as part of our rebranding in 2016, and in 2021 we established Thematics as a Research discipline. Last year, seven of our ten most-read reports fell under this rubric and, according to our calculations, ten companies levered to our themes arguably contributed more than half of the S&P 500’s total return of 25% in 2024. These numbers underscore the importance of the annual gathering of analysts, strategists, and economists that our Global Head of Research Katy Huberty highlighted in What's Next in Global Macro: Asking the Big Questions.
Let’s drill down into the four key themes for 2025 that emerged from our global collaboration. While none are completely new, all are ‘evolved’ in their application to investment strategy.
